Work environment can often result in conflicts. However, management has the power to choose whether the conflict is destructive or productive. Conflict resolution strategies can help employees learn about their conflict behaviors and get insights into how other people behave in such situations. Understanding motivations behind specific behaviors can equip employees to improve workplace relationships and prevent destructive conflict.
What qualifies as a workplace conflict?
Workplace conflicts stem from a difference in opinion combined with strong emotions. It can range from subtle disagreement without any apparent visible signs to highly intense and visible conflict involving verbal and or physical abuse.
Workplace conflict include issues that happen inside and outside of work hours. These disputes can happen among co-workers working at the same positions or in hierarchically different positions, like manager and worker.
Additionally, employment conflict and labor-management conflicts also come under this category. However, they are treated separately. Except for these two types, other workplace conflicts generally do not include the employer and are generally disagreements among the employees.
Depending on the behaviors of people and the specific situation, conflict can take different shapes. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all solution that can make every workplace conflict productive.
It comes down to every individual’s will to improve their self-awareness in relation to conflict behaviors. In this regard, Everything DiSC Productive Conflicts can help decision-makers perpetuate an environment of better workplace conflict resolution.
Conflict Resolutions Strategies – Understanding What You Need to Do
The work personality of every individual has a considerable role in how the conflict ends. It can lead to something productive or cause more tensions among the workers who ideally should be collaborating.
Therefore, businesses must empower employees to take control of how they respond to conflict situations. And help them understand other people’s DiSC styles, getting a deeper knowledge of their conflict behaviors. The result? It will enable your employees to effectively engage with others during conflict.
Presence of regular conflicts in the team can lead the business to a downfall, as effective collaboration is necessary for success. Additionally, conflicts lead to a loss of time and productivity. Therefore, companies must invest their resources in creating a harmonious environment where disputes are resolved efficiently.
Conflict Resolution Strategies – A List of Destructive & Constructive Responses
It takes effort to turn conflicts productive. People who do not regulate their emotions well often become part of destructive responses.
When your employees are not equipped to deal with conflicts effectively, they will let their automatic thoughts win. It will lead to destructive responses like arguing, belittling, passive-aggression, sarcasm, withdrawing, and other such behaviors.
With DiSC assessment, your employees can recognize the automatic thoughts and reflect on them. It will enable them to take a step back, analyze their automatic thoughts, and reframe to get a more productive response.
The productive responses that an individual can practice include apologizing, acknowledging others' feelings, giving reassurance, showing flexibility, listening, finding compromises, and others.
Understanding How Different People React to Conflict Per the DiSC Model
Under the DiSC model, people are divided into four categories. They concentrate on different aspects of the arguments and have varied productive and destructive responses.
Dominance
People under this personality category are direct and tough-minded individuals who are firm and forceful. They can come across as rude and focus on logic and victory in conflicts.
Influence
These are the more outgoing and enthusiastic people with lively personalities. However, they can be impulsive and make personal attacks in case of conflicts as they prioritize emotions.
Conscientiousness
Individuals under the conscientiousness segment are analytical and reserved. In case of an issue, they can become defensive, passive-aggressive, and self-isolate. They tend to concentrate on justice and logic.
Steadiness
Employees who gravitate towards the steadiness style are even-tempered and accommodating. They are also patient, humble, and tactful. In case of conflicts, they zero in on feelings and consensus, but without apt insight into their destructive behaviors, they can ignore problems, withdraw from conflicts, and avoid tension.
People do not firmly fall under one personality. Instead, they can react in a variety of ways to various conflicts. Also, they can show traits of adjacent characters. However, depending on their dominant quality, assessing their conflict behavior and having a more fruitful outcome in case an issue arises is possible.
And let us all remember that not one of these segments is bad. They are all important in a team.
Equip Your Employees to Harness the Power of Conflict
Organizations can lower the number of conflicts in the organization. Invest in Everything DiSC workplace. It offers a personalized learning experience focused on teaching participants to understand themselves and others while appreciating the various preferences, values, and priorities every individual brings to the table. The classroom training also provides personalized insights and actionable strategies, leading to improved collaboration, engagement, and better quality of work.
And if you are facing problems related to an increase in destructive conflicts. Everything DiSC Productive Conflict will be your best option. It is classroom training that improves self-awareness in conflict behaviors. It helps participants gain personalized techniques to reduce destructive behaviors and make conflicts more productive. The sessions will help learners recognize the various destructive and productive conflict behaviors of each DiSC style and learn about the best ways to manage their responses to conflict situations.
Final Thoughts – Invest in Developing Human Resources
Conflicts management can become the road to success if they are handled well. However, that requires each party in the conflict to understand the other party and find common ground that works for both. Therefore, it is the responsibility of organizations to facilitate a culture of harmony and equip their teams with the required skill sets to resolve conflicts productively.
Invest in your human resources. Give them the power to turn their disagreements into the company’s growth.